67 Back to Texas?

 May 2013

      As it turned out it was a strange spring.  The weather was not conducive to riding or even being outside much.  We had several snow storms after we returned home . 

     Our winter trip had convinced us to try and replace our motorcycle camper.  The stop at the Roll-a-home factory had confirmed our decision to sell our camper and replace it with a RAH.  I listed our camper on the internet and within a few days it sold.  On May 1st we drove to Hurley Wisconsin to deliver the camper.  As we headed to Northern Wisconsin the temperature kept getting milder and we wished we had rode the trike.  By the time we met the new owners it was 82 degrees, not normal.   As we headed for home the temperature started to drop and when we awoke the next morning we found one of the worst snow storms of the year had passed thru depositing 12 inches at our place and over 17 at daughter Katy's in Byron. 
     With our current trike projects completed and now snowed in we went on the internet looking for a camper replacement, with our requirements the choices were few and far between.  We finally found a used one in our price range, a deal was struck, guess where?  Austin Texas, can you believe it.  Part of the negotiations was where it was located and how were we going to get it home.  I mean really, we just got back from Texas. 


All Gave Some, Some Gave All!

.    One of the factors that helped us make our decision was that we could combine picking up the camper with a visit to our daughter Michelle (aka;  Bandanas byMichelle  on Facebook)  She is a story in herself, starting a business selling hand crafted Bandanas traveling to motorcycle rally's on "Big John" (her Harley) pulling a motorcycle trailer which contained all of her goods.  She left our home in April and plans on traveling until November.
     We left in May planning on meeting Michelle in Longview Texas for a Memorial day rally.  This was not a pleasure trip we planned on being there in two days,  We stayed with a motorcycle club member just outside of Kansas City, they went above club guidelines and asked us to join them for dinner. 
     As soon as we crossed the Texas line I finally got my elusive picture of Braham cattle. (see Post #40 Border Patrol) I love their ears, remind me of baby Moose.
      Michelle had temped us with a motel complete with a swimming pool, as you know our winter trip had not been warm enough for luxuries like that.  So much for well made reservations, not only was the pool closed, during our stay they brought in a backhoe and filled it with dirt.
      It was great to see her again.  This visit gave us a real insight into the life she lives on the rally road.   It makes us appreciate all vendors and participants in events like this, sometimes you take things for granted without thinking about what makes them possible.  A little insight:  This is what we learned after assisting her with this rally.  Think of all of the expense of living on the road then the promoter of the rally charges a fee (based on expected attendance.) for you to attend which can be from a few hundred to thousands of dollars for the big rally's.  Yes, the organizer has cost also, the arena or fairgrounds, advertising, bathrooms and facilities for a large crowd, security and clean up.  (in the case of a Gold Wing rally, additional security at the local Dairy Queen.)   You arrive and the promoter has stuck your booth in the corner across from the sheep tent or in a building away from the main traffic area. 

   Now the convening authority (thanks Al.) levees a tax before you have sold a single item.  Then it rains for three days or in the case in Texas, rival gangs had boycotted the event and the city had initiated a regulation that discourages attendance.  She knew it wasn't going to be good when the promoter asked for a deposit for her pass that wouldn't be returned until 3pm on Sunday.  Evidently vendors had pulled out early the year before.    And yes attendance was very poor,  I believe because of the quality of product and her display (quite the promoter this one!)  An attractive booth, large display, lots of lights to show off the crystals, a little fan so they shimmer and oh yes, a heated candle with a baking sugar cookie aroma.  (I almost bought one.) she did Okay, sometimes you just hope not to loose money.   The food vendors at this rally lost money, local health laws made them buy all there supplies locally or delivered by a recognized provider to their site.  No food could be prepared ahead of time.  One vendor didn't read the memo and they made him destroy his food products by pouring bleach over them.  Painful!    
   The Straw that broke the camels back.  If any of these participants get greedy it will ruin the rally,  We had a wonderful family oriented rally South of us in Iowa.

     Perfect balance,  it was supported by the town to the extent that many of the residents turned their homes into B&Bs for the weekend housing riders and sharing in the fun.  The boy scouts handled camping at the city park.  There was a cycle parade the riders held to show their gratitude to the city.   A breakfast by the seniors at the community center.  Lots of vendors, riders and enjoyment for all.  We looked forward to going.   Then one year the organizers decided to raise the fee for the vendors, the next year at least half of the vendors didn’t come.   The next year a lot of the riders didn’t go.  We haven’t returned in years now”. 

     Time to rest? No! Time for some electrical trailer repair, load 400 pounds of tent crystals, bandanas, fans, lights, chairs, table, a forty pound heat press, a file cabinet, all personal items, and clothing ( casual, warm, rain and riding ) into a 300 pound capacity trailer.  Now off to the next rally.  Ruthie and I needed a rest after helping her for a few days.  Bless her heart. 
   To save us some time the seller had  met us at the rally with our camper.  With that in tow we were going to ride as far as we could with Michelle. 

  Since it wasn't far out of our way we headed to Sulphur Springs Texas to see a public glass bathroom that daughter Tammy had heard about.  Yup, natural beauty or oddities, count us in!  Interesting,  I have taken pictures inside bathrooms before (don't ask) but never of the outside from inside.  Ruthie and Michelle, wonder if they can see me?   The site of the bathroom was in the city square , children were playing in the water tube sprayer,  there was a life size chess set and others were wandering among the many  tribute areas honoring the veterans and freedom.  Very inspirational.  A very touching memorial to all who serve.   I think the unique bathroom was a great way to attract visitors,  However the rest of the square is what you will think about for a long time.
     We rode with Michelle North to the Texas border, always tough to part with loved ones.  You may see a grown woman swinging her Harley Davidson into the street with her trailer in tow. But I still see our two year old toddler clinging to her mommies hand, it's tough to let go.  (I sent her a copy of this post to proof read since she was in it.  I received this note back.  "

*** a side note to your story. After we said goodbye at the chicken restaurant I cried like a baby for about an hour as I drove down the road. I actually had to pull over so I could gain my composure so I could drive again. Once a little girl...always a little girl. Goodnight.") Thru tears I thanked her.  .I guess we are a sensitive bunch. 

   She was heading to NE Oklahoma for a rally and we were going to swing by the camper factory in Hobart Oklahoma to have some modifications done. (doesn't anyone realize it's tornado season in Oklahoma?).

      Due to the number of miles we put on with the camper in tow we thought it would be a good idea to have an axel installed at the factory that had electric brakes.  We fought a pretty stiff wind from the South as we headed West across Oklahoma,  Arriving in Hobart we spent the night at a bed and breakfast that used to be a funeral home.   Nice place, slept with one eye open. 
    
    The next morning this was the weather map Severe storms moving across all the way from Texas to Minnesota, looks like we are in for some weather.   We had dropped the camper off the night before and knowing tornadoes were in the area.  ( not to be rats deserting a sinking ship) we asked Billy to just install the axel and new wheels and we would wire it ourselves when we reached home.  Kind of anxious to be on the road. 




  

Billy finished our modification and we were on our way the storm threats were serious enough that we weren't wasting anytime.   There had been damaging tornadoes the week before and we headed North out of Hobart as fast as we could.  The wind was at our back until we  reached interstate 40 heading East now we felt the full effects of the Strom we were told that the wind was a steady 60 miles per hour with some stronger gusts.  It kept us on our toes as it tried to help us change lanes.  The sky was changing scenes dramatically every few minutes.  Beautiful to  watch and take pictures with an every watchful eye out for funnel clouds.    We took 35 North out of Oklahoma City and again had the wind to our back,  (We found out later that Oklahoma City suffered severe Tornado damage that evening, just as benefit concerts were being held there to aid the last storm victims.   As a precaution we stayed in a brick motel with our little rig parked on the North side.
       
     One more stop at Paul and Mary's in Holton Kansas,  who knew we would be back this soon?  Another pleasant evening with them and we were on the last leg home.   A quick interesting trip, now back to work. 

66 The Humble Bumble project!

      I thought this would be a fitting time to show you the  project we went thru blizzards to arrive home to finish.  Also it will show you what we do when we aren't traveling and how a trike is created.

Not a professional model, this is Todd! 

 Todd contacted us in the fall before our scheduled winter trike trip asking us to convert his Gold Wing "The humble Bumble" ( you'll see why)  Todd had a special color scheme in mind.  To make sure we had it right we put tape on our trike with the desired color location and sent the order off to the trike company.  As you can see it all starts with a standard motorcycle, usually one of the larger touring variety.
     The crated conversion kit arrives by semi and a kind neighbor allows us to use his fork lift to offload it.  (yup, lots of snow aren't we glad we hurried home.).  After uncrating and checking for damage we disassemble the kit.

     When I have been asked how we build a trike, I like to tease and say we (Ruthie, I and Tom) remove everything that doesn't look like a trike.  Maybe it is a little more complicated than that.
     Some of the items are removed and will be reinstalled when the running gear is on.  We remove the saddlebags, frame structure that holds the saddlebags, mufflers, rear wheel and final drive. ( this would be similar to the differential on your car.)  On touring motorcycles there is a swing arm that supports the final drive, rear wheel and provides a cushion or spring effect to soften the bumps.  Normally this gets modified to add strength and a means of attaching the trike running gear. 
     The preparation leaves a bare bones bike ready to accept the trikes running gear and frame.  Not so pretty anymore. 
     The running gear has a substantial support frame with automobile tires and wheels, a differential and braking system.  The chore now is to attach it to what's left of the motorcycle.   Note the little heater, not a solution but it takes the chill off.  Tom say's "Vern doesn't work unless it's freezing or over eighty" perhaps a little exaggeration on his part, but sometimes it does seem like that. 
     One of the tricky parts is installing the drive shaft from the motorcycle transmission to the running gear differential.  It has to be done as the running gear frame is joined with the motorcycle frame.   There are several attaching points besides the swing arm plate that used to be attached to the final drive.  It gives it a lot of strength and stability.  It is at this time we join and bleed the braking system.  
     For the first time it is on three wheels.   One of the benefits of where we live and work is our neighbors.  At any time we might get a visit from our friends Wes and Brenda (usually with a little friendly ribbing) . Or Gary might stop by with his 4 wheeler.  (love to tease him about his backup camera, on a four wheeler, really? )  And they are always ready and willing to give a helping hand.  Great people!  So glad we moved here.

      And now the front end?  Yes! A motorcycle was designed to be on two wheels. When you change the length and width you have affected the geometry of the bike.  Some trikes bikes can develop a front wheel vibration under certain conditions.  To alleviate this and also to make it steer much easier we install custom triple tree ( picture; it is the pivoting point for the steering that holds the front forks.)  It requires a total disassembly of the front end.  Since we have them off we check the fork oil and change the springs. (Yes warm clothes and a heater, Tom was right.)

 After double checking all the bolts, (the bolts are installed using a torque wrench that allows us to adjust the tightness to the engineers specification.)  air pressure in the tires, align the wheels,  we are ready for a road test.  I usually put on some warm clothes throw a pillow over the battery and take it for a bare bones road test to check before we install the body.

    

     We now remove the wheels, prepare the body by installing taillights we removed from the saddlebags, install wiring to the lights, fit and adjust the body, install exhaust, trailer hitch and wheels. Another road test and we are ready to roll.   

Thanks Todd for allowing us to use your trike for the story. 

65 Snowmobile anyone?

 

 

     It was morning and there was no question anymore concerning the weather.  We had very heavy snow falls during the night.  Our hosts tried their best to discourage a fool hardy trip on the trike.  Paul even mentioned that if he was my commanding officer he would order me not to go out.  I said if he was my commanding officer that I would obey. 
     We weren't looking forward to it either. Paul and I decided to take the four wheel drive truck and drive to the main road to see if it was doable..

     Stopping a few times to check the snow depth.  We were the first ones on the gravel road leading to their home.  When we reached  the secondary road there had been some traffic on the South lane however there was drifting on the North side of the road.  Breakfast was ready for us on our return.  A little more pressure from our friends and we packed for the cold trip home.  I helped Mary with the computer so she could follow our path as we made our way home.  After getting our rig turned around some hugs and a final word from Paul " we will leave the garage door open and if you can't make it please turn around and come back.  (I didn't have the heart to tell him that because of the incline of their driveway I knew the trike would never pull the camper back up the hill.) We will never forget this wonderful couple!
    We were committed or as others have said, we should be, who travels in weather like this? Having been raised in Minnesota we were used to winter driving.  Approaching the secondary road Ruthie kept a look out for traffic so I could keep the trike moving up the hill.  So far so good.  As we approached town their was more traffic and less snow to plow thru.  The main thing was to keep moving and stay in the tracks made by recent traffic.   We headed East on 36 past St Joseph on our way to Interstate 35.  In one of the small towns we got thumbs up from two fellows snow blowing their drive ways.   Not much cycle traffic this time of year. 


Something wrong with a trike and snow plow in the same picture!

     The snow storm had caused many accidents and their were still many in the ditch from the night before.  Along the way Ruthie came up with a new term for the cars that had slid off the road.  "Digger" And she was able to use it many times between Kansas and Des Moines Iowa.  Some were pretty serious,  There were some that had went in the ditch just before we arrived and our children mentioned that they may have driven in the ditch after seeing us on the road.   Many times cars would pull up beside us and take our picture. (they probably turned their heater up after seeing us.)

Yes, she is Okay! Just anxious to get home  note the "pigin" string from the ranch.
 

  We were bundled up against the cold, had a heated jacket liner that plugged into the cycle's electrical system and were able to make it all the way to just North of Des Moines before we called it a day.  Bundled up like we were it is easier to just keep moving if your not to uncomfortable.  We only traveled a couple of hours the next day before we stopped, planning on making it home on the third day. 

     The last day was cold however the sun was out and we were anxious to get home.

 

     We made it.  Stuck in the snow 10 feet from our deck.  Over 11,000 miles more than 120 days on a trike, 10 states, at least 5 forts, 1 aircraft carriers, many museums, 1 slippery bridge, 2 dust storms, 2 blizzards countless amazing friends, numerous hotel yogurts. Stuck in the snow ten feet from the deck. We are home safe, warm and sound.  Priceless.   Lets do this again!

64 Higher Education

     We spent the next few days road tripping with Paul and Mary, fun and education.  We learned of their College, Church, family ties and their infinite knowledge of their beloved Kansas.      

    I have decided to only mention a couple of things on each attraction they took us to, or we will never get on to the next post.
     As a matter of fact we are still in Kansas and a trip to the Oz museum in Wamego seemed appropriate.  Interesting fact, one set of Dorothy ruby slippers sold for over $200,000. And that Shirley Temple turned down the role of Dorothy.  Judy Garland from Grand Rapids Minnesota ended up playing the part.  A pair of ruby slippers were stolen from a museum in Grand Rapids and never located.

     We stopped at the Red Vermillion river at the point where the Oregon trail with its thousands of settlers were allowed to cross for one dollar on a toll bridge build by Louis Vieux.  In addition to all the dangers the settlers faced Cholera was being spread from water hole to water hole.  And at this site in May of 1849 over 50 travelers died at this site, they may have been healthy in the morning and dead by night.  It was sobering to see the graves of an entire family and the tombstones simply marked as "soldier" and to contemplate the contributions they could have made had they lived.
     We visited the Flint hills discovery center in Manhattan and learned of the tall grass prairie surrounding the area.  It was interesting to learn about the native people and the immigrants who settled here. 
     The Kansas museum of history was fascinating,  Covering the timeline from 5,000 B.C up until the 1990's .  Of particular interest to me were the attempts to attract settlers to the land.  Nicodemus,  an African American settlement provided settlement opportunities for people of modest means. A person could claim a 160-acre plot provided they lived on and developed the land for a 5-year period, after which it could be purchased.
    
     A drawing of a fierce looking woman caught my eye, she was Carrie Nation and she was going to put an end to drinking by smashing taverns with her hatchet.  Hide the "Jack" here she comes. 
     Trivia question, when did the state board of health ban the use of common drinking cups, you would know if you went with us.   This made me think because Ruthie was just reminiscing how her family, the milk man, feed man and any one that happened to visit would drink from the water storage in their well house from the same dipper that hung on the wall completely exposed to the elements.  Evidently the health department didn't check their farm.
    With out a doubt the area that grabbed our attention the most was the Kansas in aviation history display.  (nothing to do with Dorothy and her flight)  Paul had mentioned that his great Uncle A.K. Longren was one of the first aviators, matter of fact Paul is researching and writing a book about him and his contribution to aviation. 
     When we entered this display there was proof ever where of his relatives contribution.  From designing and building to flying and pioneering the proof is ever where.   Here is one of A.K.'s original planes hanging in the museum. 
   

  Here is a trivia answer for you I picked up, what can a dog do that an oxen can't? "stand on three legs." Who knew?

     One last picture and we will leave the museum.  Every time I mention this place Ruthie makes an unkind remark and grimace. 
   Then I find out on this trip that White Castle was the first hamburger chain, how fitting.  Anyone for a slider?  Count me in!


     We still needed to be on the road home as we had a project to complete for a customer   And on a selfish note their were still the secret conversations of a big birthday present.   
      However there were still snow advisories for the area and hosts had one more road trip planned. 
     With Paul being a retired Air force officer he and Mary had a strong attachment to military aviation so it was only natural that we visit the Combat air museum in Topeka.  On the way they showed us the school that had fostered the court decision that stopped state sponsored segregation thru supposedly separate but equal schools for black and white students.  Yup, I could learn a lot here.
 

     Okay, one more educational experience and tomorrow we are on the road.  Because of my Navy service in the aviation part of the Navy ( Paul teased me a few times about this) I knew I would be interested in this stop.   They had every type of war plane imaginable including one of the Navy flying demonstration team "The Blue Angels". We had seen one of their performances while I was in the service and I still remember the precision and speed of the exhibition.  Not to be a conspiracy theory guy, sometimes their are things that are hard to explain.  The section with the title "What really happened to Jack B. Ketchum? Stirred my curiosity.  Check this link out for your self and let me know what you think.  Ketchum. 
     It looks like the Air Force like's trikes too. 

     Paul admiring one of the displays,  When the curator discovered Paul was an officer stationed in a missile silo during his career he became a instant source of information for them, Mr. Wiki in the flesh! 

     We headed home determined to be on the road in the morning.  It was snowing pretty hard as we arrived at their home.  What is in store for us tomorrow? 

63 Mr Wiki and the Lady

     The concern was unwarranted.   Paul and Mary had made a spot in their garage for our trike and trailer.   After unloading and getting settled in our room we were happy to be in for the night.  It didn't take long for us to get warm and become reacquainted with our hosts.  It seemed like a comfortable fit from the start. We were only planning on staying a day or two. ( Have we said that before.)   We were given a quick tour of the house one of the rooms had multiple sewing machines enough that I was anticipating a sweat shop raid.  We learned that Mary is quite the seamstress and uses every machine,  She quilts and during the course of our visit made a complete set of outfits for a church Easter pageant.
Sunday March17,  The temperature had continued to drop and sometime during the night we had a dusting of snow.  Made  a nice scene by the old pump and they asked  us if we would like to join them at their Cowboy church and Sunday school, sounded like a good idea to us.  Little did we know that we might have an uncomfortable moment during the sermon.  We rode with our hosts the few miles to the small town church. 

   Before the service everyone mills around in the church entryway, Mary took aside and asked us our names so she could introduce us, cute right!  Alright I'm being mean now, she just wanted to know how to pronounce our last name.
    The regular minister was on a leave for a few weeks so we had a guest speaker from Hot Springs Arkansas.  Brought back some memories of our stay there at the beginning of this venture.  He was a  teacher at a Christian school, he was one of the most interesting minister's I have ever heard.  The only hiccup was he mentioned the snow outside and how the birth of his child just before Christmas.  It seems it almost  never snows in Hot Springs until the night his wife went into labor.  They had over eight inches of snow and ice that kept cars hibernated in garages.   This is the storm that our Hot Springs hosts had blamed us for bringing with us from Minnesota.   After some tense phone calls and helpful friends the birth went off with no serious complications.  We were off the hook. 
       A sister, a brother, two trikers,  a Lutheran,  and a beer truck driver walk into a cafe.  Is this a joke?  No we were invited to a  Monday morning ritual,   It had started the Monday morning after their mother had passed away and bless their hearts they kept it up.  Mary and her two brothers met at  Circleville cafe for breakfast every Monday morning and along the way they were joined by two friends, Mike a devout Lutheran and Stan a truck driver, just happens to be a beer truck.   Mary brought along a cartoon she had cut out to share, Two people talking, " My friend died of  alcohol, He was ran over by a beer truck!"   Cute!    Stan liked it of course.
     Today one brother was on a mission trip but the others were all there.   A  little of the conversation, the brother, very interesting showed us pictures of his family and several of the long horn cattle he raises, over to the beer truck driver and pack rats destroying the wiring on their Escalade,  The Lutheran mentioned he was friends with Roy Rodgers, ( I became very interested, wanting to know about Trigger) wrong Rodgers, Kenny (the singer's)  brother.  Lost interest, daughter Michelle had met him one time and he was a jerk to her, yup I carry a grudge for my children.   After breakfast we walked around town it doesn't take very long,  less than five places of business.     We went into a small one room grocery and what ever store.  First time I had ever seen a gun welcome sign.
     I should mention at some point during the last few weeks Ruthie had been involved in some secret phone calls and had been sharing a secret with our friend Mary, what's going on here?   I don't like secrets!
     On Tuesday Paul had jury duty and Mary volunteered her car so we could see some local sites.  Very generous offer.  I asked her what do I need to know about her car, “it’s fast” she said, Our kind of girl..  Okay here we go , Amelia Earhart's  birth place , St Joseph and Jessie James demise, pony express museum and monument all were within an hours drive and we had a fast car.  Looked like a fun day.
   With my interest in horses and fascination with the history of the pony express we spent a good deal of time at the museum. 
March 20  An example of breakfast with Paul,  He asks if Tommy barking at the coyote’s kept us awake,  I didn’t even hear him,   He says Tommy is protective and likes to keep things away from the house,  I mention the blog post where I talked about the Great Pyrenees's and how they are raised with the sheep to become a member of the flock to protect them.  Paul:  They must have came from the Pyrenees mountains in Spain, You know in the high desert Nevada, Montana, Idaho the Basque sheepherders live in these little wagons and move with the sheep,  the Basque’s in their homeland still resent Spanish rule and from time to time retaliate against high ranking Spanish officials.  We were worried at one time because our son was over there and he looked remarkably like the future leader of Spain. 
     I Think of Paul as a breathing Wikipedia.  He supplies an interesting stream of information complete with dates.  And then Mary fills in the blanks, I could learn so much here. 
     Paul showed us his rock collection that he had started as a small boy. We were anxious to show him Ruthie's alleged illegal rock collection,  Mary mentioned that some of them might be leaverite rocks,  We were excited, could it mean we had something of value?  Leaverite rocks? What kind are they?  and punch line Paul says “when I take some one new rock hunting  I like to say leave it right where you found it.” what a comedy team. 
     Weather email from home. While the accumulating snow from Monday's storm system is long gone, the winds that are being generated by that system continue to plague the region today, causing blowing snow and making it feel like January outside. Expect bright sunshine through the day, but strong west winds behind the storm system will create gusts of 30 miles per hour through about 4:00 this afternoon, giving us wind chill indices in the -10 to +5 range while temperatures will top out in the low 20s, a full 20 degrees colder than normal for this time of the year. Winds will slowly diminish tonight with a few flurries developing late and low temperatures will be around zero. We'll have a sunny, but blustery tomorrow with high temperatures in the upper teens and wind chills around zero. Winds won't be quite as gusty Wednesday, vastly reducing the threat of blowing snow, however. We'll have a couple of bright, warmer days later in the week before another storm system may work its way in for the weekend, bringing yet another chance for some snow to the area.
     Looks like we will be sticking around for a few more days
    

62 Super Dave

"Super Dave"

March 15th We pulled out of Weatherford  on our way to Tulsa.  Starting out a little cool in the morning it reached 87 degrees by mid afternoon maybe we had reached a turning point in the weather.  Our stop in Tulsa originally was going to be with our Son-in-law Bill's marine buddy Kevin.   However because of a conflict with his sons activities he turned over hosting duties to brother Dave.  We had met Dave at our daughters wedding several years ago.  At the wedding he had told us if we were ever in the area to stop in.  He said we sure took our time to take him up on his offer. 

      We had heard Bill and Katy refer to him as Super Dave because of some daredevil stunt he had done at an early age.  For years he has liked speed and racing.   If you are not familiar with the antics of namesake "Super Dave Osborn" comedy stunt man, make sure you check out "youtube" for one of his stunts.  He appeared often on the tonight show.
    Daughter Katy thought he had a Gold Wing.  However entering the garage the Honda's I seen weren't even close.  There parked in the garage was a row of  Honda’50’s  I figured they must be for some one other than our "super Dave"  but we soon seen the video of  him and his buddies trail riding with these beauties.   He even has some large dirt piles in the back yard to test them out.
     We had a great evening, some of Dave's riding buddies dropped in to visit, Kevin stopped in for a while and even their father stopped in with his classic car.  Great time, people seemed to be coming and going all evening.  Kind of a relaxed swinging door policy.  Nice people! 
     In the morning I checked emails and found out that our home area was still experiencing major snow storms and wind chills as low as -10  it was a full 20 degrees lower than normal.  Were we going to make it home for our projects.
     Dave had promised to give us a chance to ride his 50's.   He fired three of them up and gave us some riding instructions.   No clutch, make sure your knees don't interfere with the handlebars and here we go.   Ruthie took off across the yard dodged a bush, a water hydrant, a culvert and went down.  She didn't admit to any injuries however she complained about the brakes.  Super Dave mentioned that if we replayed the video that she actually was still accelerating at the time of the accident.  No excuses here!

      We moved to the back yard where there was more room.   It went quite well however we decided not to trade our trike for a matching pair.  It was time to get on the road.  It wasn't' as nice as when we arrived it was now 68 degrees in Tulsa with the promise of warmer weather in the afternoon.  Maybe we should have stayed put.   We had been trading emails and phone calls with a couple we met at the Stillwell RV and ranch.  Paul and Mary lived by Holton Kansas and had invited us to stop on our journey home.  They had met us and still wanted us to stop in, to good to be true.  We better check this out.  The temperature dropped 13 degrees in the first 50 miles and by the time we pulled into Holton Kansas it was 39 degrees.  We had not planned for this drop in temperature and we were chilled to the bone.  Paul and Mary lived in the country just West of Holton.   It wasn't long before we were heading down a gravel road the GPS was trying to tell us they lived in a pasture, with rural addresses it often has the land as the address and not the actual drive way.  We continued down the road and seen a home on the hill to the right.  This must be it!  There is always a little concern how your going to get along and if they really wanted us to visit or were just being kind?  It had been some time since we first met them at "Stillwell's".  Well we shall see, we are heading up the driveway now I only hope it's warm in there. 

61 Heading Home

Serendipity Ranch

   On March 14th  we loaded our gear into our little camper and trike and left Serendipity ranch.   This had been a welcome base to explore the area. We will think of this often, and maybe some day we will return.  Ruthie made a trip around the ranch taking pictures.  I think one of the Mexican roping steers seemed sad to see us go.

      We passed thru this town and of course had to turn around to take this picture, maybe that old movie line came true.  "Am I in Scotland?"
    Since we were this close we had decided to make a stop in Hobart OK and check out the motorcycle campers we had been researching.   One of the things about riding is it gives you some time to think.  It seems whenever I contemplate a new purchase, I start the mental process of how we will use it and how we might modify it to fit our needs.  It seems everything needs some modifications to make it satisfactory.   This line of thought brings up two fellas I should tell you about.  We have some time before we reach Hobart OK  sot it is a good time to you about Tim and Jerry,  I met Jerry thru Ruthie when we were quite young,  he stood up in our wedding and then due to service, children, work and life we drifted apart.  Sometime during this separation a change came over Jerry (you'll see) 

      Many years later after the children were older we became reacquainted at Ruthie's school reunion.  ( Ruthie would know which one, I don't )  We started hanging out again, trips, cards, golf Having a great time.  We even built our first project trike in his garage.  People have mentioned I might be anal, however they have not met Jerry.   When he has a project the engineer in him makes it a monumental undertaking.  This example might help.  Last year, lets say June, Deb his wife mentioned that he was overhauling a windmill.  I was impressed, I knew Jerry had every tool available, a hardware store supply of goodies and the skills to rebuild anything.  Was he now involved in the new wind turbine wind mills that were starting to dot the landscape?  This could be quite an undertaking?  I knew one of Jerry's son's climbed and worked on mobile telephone towers but I just couldn't see Jerry climbing one of those things.    It surely couldn't' be the old water windmills that the Amish were slowly taking down for the metal.   No!  It was a John Deere lawn ornament.  He had determined that the blades weren't balanced and it was not turning properly.   He completely disassembled it, installed bearings, balanced the blades and improved the assembly as only an engineer can.  However he has a few other projects in his shop that have improvements planned so it is not a simple in and out procedure.  It does not leave his shop until it has the "Jerry stamp."  A few weeks ago I asked Deb if the windmill was on the lawn, she said no.  Thought I would just check as of the writing of this post.  Deb answered and I said " look outside in the garden and tell me how that wind mill looks?  Well that's a long story, bottom line it's still in the shop.  Jerry got on the phone, "Brother Vern" how's it going?  We exchanged a few pleasantry's and he asked the purpose of the call.  I called to check on the windmill and ask if I could mention you in the blog?  He didn't' mind and told me some of the reasons the windmill wasn't done,  he had been working on his neighbors John Deere lawn tractor and it seemed to go from one problem to the next.  His own John Deere had also been taking up some of his time since he had to make some modifications ( of course) it seems they stopped making the air filter for his tractor and he would have to do some metal fabrication to make another work.  He mentioned he was very close on the John Deere ( maybe that's the problem) windmill being back on line.  The frame and  part of the blades were painted, the hub now had a high speed bearing in it, and the blades were perfectly  balanced and ran true.   He didn't say but I think it is probably just a matter of putting it all back together and a supervised test run in a licensed wind tunnel.  So how does this affect me?  If he is turning a part on his metal lathe, contemplating a bid or play in cards, lining up a golf putt or adjusting a micrometer.  You nor anyone else is going to hurry him, for that moment and as many moments as it takes the world revolves around Jerry.  He is a good influence on me, when I repaired engineering (fitting, right?) copiers I would mentally switch from my type "A" turbo mode to my "Jerry mode" and for whatever time it took for the repair it was "by the book", you can't do a better job than that!
    Now what about Tim?  And what do they have to do with the camper?  As part of our investigation for the perfect camper for our needs Shelia from Roll-A-Home ( from now on just RAH) had gave us the emails of a few of their satisfied owners.   We followed up with several and received lots of helpful hints from both email and phone calls, lots of nice people out there.  One of these emails was from Tim.  He had a lot of nice things to write about his RAH and also included a link to a motorcycle forum where he had been submitting some of his motorcycle and camper modifications Click here! and scroll half way down the page.   Almost turned my stomach! He had picked up his "new" RAH and as soon as he got it home started tearing it apart to modify and improve it.  Modify the tongue, jack, add air compressor, change the bed, add a power inlet, a charging station for electronics, led lighting, it's brand new Tim, maybe a refrigerator/freezer? It's a motorcycle camper Tim!  How about solar charging?  Another Jerry?  I'm thinking yes,  the link to the start of the forum post be prepared  shows his modifications to his motorcycle and on page 13 starts the mod's on his camper.  You have to like one or the other or just be intrigued with people like Jerry and Tim or perhaps "Tim the tool man Taylor"  Arh arh, I can make it better, faster, more lights and switch's.  At the time of this post it was the most popular read on the forum, 18 pages and 529 posts.    In one of our exchange emails I mentioned that if I did get a RAH, I wasn't going to let him know where I kept it.  I bet these two had their toys apart on Christmas morning.  Jerry still remains a close friend ( of course he hasn't read this yet) and some day I hope to meet Tim. (if that's his real name.)  Better yet they should meet each other.   Just think of what they could accomplish by putting their heads together, maybe even fix "the government",  No, I guess not, some things just don't react well to reason and logical thinking.  There I feel better now, compared to these two,  I'm not anal I just like things a certain way, mine!   However with the proper tools and funding I think I could be one of them.  Great guys.  Hmmmm maybe I'm jealous or  perhaps this blog is my obsessive compulsive moment?   See, there I go again, why couldn't I just say " Here are two great people that make things better!

. This picture of the RAH with the supports exposed is not at the factory, It is Tim's new one that he is modifying.
   We met Billy and Sheila the owners of the Roll-a-Home business, the story is that they had been looking for a small camper and ended up buying the business and moved it from Wisconsin to their home in Oklahoma.   Nice people,  they tried to answer all of our questions, showed us how they were constructed and set one up for us to look at.    

Interesting use of an old tanker!

     If you aren't familiar with these small campers, they can be towed behind small cars and motorcycles.  There are many different brands and styles.  Some fold out, pop up or are assembled with poles and canvas.  Some have king size beds and storage areas.  The one we are looking at is unique because there is a slide out to make the bed king size. We liked what we saw.
     This would take some thought as we already had a camper. It seemed like it was easy to set up, and had adequate storage, (we have a habit of packing to much, I have vowed that the bocce ball set will never take another trip with us.)   Satisfied we returned to our home ward path.  We had some scheduled work back in Minnesota and we were trying to stay South as long as we could and still make it home on time.   We headed North out of Hobart and turned East on the freeway.  Not far up the road we stopped in Weatherford OK.  Worthy of mention is T-Bone's steak house here, wonderful meal and service.